An extensive network of railways in Kazakhstan allows organizing the transportation of large volumes of goods by rail over long distances.
This is one of the most versatile and inexpensive means of transport, providing high reliability and safety.
For 7 months of the current year, 232 million tons of goods were transported by rail, which is 1.9% more compared to the same period of the last year (January-July 2019 – 227.6 million tons).
At the same time, the cargo turnover amounted to 168.7 billion ton-kilometers and increased by 4.4% (January-July 2019 – 161.7 billion ton-kilometers).
Thanks to the pursued policy of balanced reform of railway transport, today we are seeing a corresponding growth in railway traffic.
At the same time, an important role is given to a flexible system of tariff formation, which is being built by the antimonopoly authority.
In terms of tariffs, virtually all rail transport is regulated as a natural monopoly.
Most of the tariffs are set by the Committee for the Regulation of Natural Monopolies (antimonopoly authority, regulator). The exceptions are tariffs for transit transportation, as well as the supply of wagons and containers, which are not regulated, as they are influenced by market competition.
According to Zhanibek Taizhanov, the Deputy Chairman of the Transport Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the railway tariff for the transportation of goods within the country, export, the import is uniform and is called unified.
It includes several components, these are freight and commercial work, car rental, the main railway network, and locomotive traction, where the last two components are approved by the antimonopoly authority.
The average share of tariff components varies depending on the distance of transportation, the type of locomotive traction, and the type of cargo.
“Today the level of the Kazakhstani unified tariff is significantly lower than the level of unified tariffs of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union, which creates favorable conditions for the development of transportation not only within the country but also import and export.
At the same time, the railway tariff for the carriage of goods in transit traffic is not regulated by the antimonopoly body and is set within the framework of international agreements on agreed tariff policy. “, Summed up Zhanibek Taizhanov, Deputy Chairman of the Transport Committee of MIID RK.